The Hand of Friendship
by THGHPforever14
Summary: When Draco Malfoy gets hit by Sectumsempra he wonders what would happen if Harry Potter had accepted his hand in friendship during first year. He wakes the next morning to a strange ordeal which is that he is now best friends with Harry Potter and Hermione Granger. HBP/DH. AU.
1. Sectumsempra

_**Summary: **__When Draco Malfoy gets hit by Sectumsempra he wonders what would happen if Potter had accepted his hand in friendship during first year. He wakes the next morning to a strange ordeal which is that he is now best friends with Harry Potter and Hermione Granger. Sixth/Seventh Year. AU._

**_Main Characters:_**_Draco Malfoy, Hermione Granger, Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Ginny Weasley, Pansy Parkinson, Lavender Brown, Seamus Finnegan, Dean Thomas, Blaise Zabini, Theodore Nott, Gregory Goyle, Vincent Crabbe, Pavarti Patil, Daphne Greengrass, Neville Longbottom, Millicent Bulstrode, Luna Lovegood, Severus Snape, Albus Dumbledore, Lord Voldemort, Minerva McGonagall, Lucius Malfoy, Narcissa Malfoy, Molly Weasley, Arthur Weasley, Fred&George Weasley, Bill Weasley, Fleur Delacour, Remus Lupin, Nymphadora Tonks_

**_Date:_**_Sixth/Seventh Year_

**_Story Details:_**_Alternate Universe and Time Travel with a twist... that's all I'm giving you and you'll find out the rest! Third person through Draco's POV. After every three chapters there will be a bonus chapter or interlude... wait and see what it is._

**_Author's Note:_**_This is a story I've been thinking about writing about for ages but I've only just started writing it. It's kind of different to the other fluffy stories I've written before but I hope you enjoy it all the same... perhaps even better! Enjoy..._

**THE HAND OF FRIENDSHIP**

**Chapter 1: SECTUMSEMPRA**

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He didn't know what to do.

Only that he had to run.

Draco stumbled back a couple of steps, watching as Harry Potter's head turned from Katie Bell to him. He looked around the hall frantically as Potter's glare deepened, searching for assistance from any of his Slytherin _acquaintances_. They were hardly his friends now since he barely spent any time with them anymore. Pansy had lost interest in him and was now chasing after Blaise Zabini. Zabini, with the help of Nott, was constantly trying to get away from and turn down Pansy's advances which crossed them off his list. As for Crabbe and Goyle, they barely ever spoke but now that they were, all they did was shout insults as Draco because they were seemingly jealous of the task The Dark Lord had placed on his shoulders. He didn't truly understand their envy. If he was in their position he would be overjoyed. Of course, they didn't know what he was currently going through or even why he was going through with it, and they never would. He spotted Daphne Greengrass glancing at him but when he opened his mouth to say something she whipped her head back around, starting up a conversation with Pansy.

Potter was now looking at him in utter loathing and contempt. He had thought various times about telling Dumbledore or Potter what he was supposed to complete this year, hoping that after many apologies they would forgive him and offer his family safety and protection, but he had yet to do so and the look on Potter's face now made him think that even if he did pluck up the courage to talk to him, the boy who lived wouldn't believe a word of what he said.

He peered at Potter's two best friends, Weasley and Granger. Weasley was tucking into his breakfast whilst Granger had her head stuck in yet another book she had most likely read fifty times before. Both were completely oblivious to the way their best friend was glaring at their arch enemy. And for the first time in his life, Draco wished this wasn't the situation. He wanted Granger to look up from her book to see Potter sprinting after him, he wanted her to yell at Potter to stop and he wanted her to fire a stunning spell at the pair of them if he didn't stop. He wanted Weasley to swallow his overloaded mouthful of food and tell Potter that Draco wasn't worth it. Anything would be better than the situation he was in at the minute.

He staggered back a bit as Potter stalked towards him; slowly at first but then picking up speed until he was jogging towards him. Draco's breathing speeded up before he turned on his heel and bolted out of the main doors he had just entered through, ignoring the angry remarks that were spurting from the group of students he had just pushed out of the way. Luckily for him, they returned to their group just as Potter left the hall. He whipped his head around just in time to see Potter escape the, once again agitated, crowd of students and look left then right before spotting him and picking up speed again. Draco did the same. Deciding it would be better to stay as far away from Potter as possible at the moment.

As he rounded a corner he could still sense Potter behind him. He looked around for anything that could help him. The corridor he was in was silent, pretty much everyone being at breakfast, so blasting a hole in the wall, jumping into the room and then sealing the wall back up wouldn't be noticed by a passerby. He was just aiming his wand at a gap between two suits of armour when a thought crossed his mind. He shot a charm at the identical suits before sprinting off, he glanced back and was shocked to see the raven haired boy blast the suits of armour, which had just tried to grab onto his upper arms and force him into a nearby broom cupboard, into the wall next to him. They crashed to the floor with a loud clatter of metal on stone and Draco began to panic. In his shock he fired a _Reducto_ as the bookshelves he had just passed; the books inside toppled slightly before falling to the ground, the shelves swiftly followed, blocking the path through and causing Potter trouble as he slipped on a stray book.

Draco didn't have time to praise himself since he knew that even Potter could accomplish a _Reparo_ charm and soon the bookshelves would be back to their original position.

He sped up the moving staircases, nearly losing his balance as it jerked to change just as he stepped on. He ran up them two at a time and when he reached they had stopped, barged through the first door he laid eyes on. Not even realising what floor he was on until he saw the familiar view of the sixth floor boys' bathroom. Tears were now threatening to pour out of his eyes as he flung himself at one of the sink, gripping the rim under his hands so hard that his knuckles turn white. Then he let it out.

He couldn't hold it in any longer, the suspense, the anger he felt for The Dark Lord, the sorrow he felt for his family–his mother–who would be suffering alongside him if he didn't complete this task. He couldn't bear to look at himself and kept his head bowed; he ripped off his grey uniform jumper and threw it to the side. He gulped and sobbed, not bothering to be worried about whether they were loud or not. He clutched at his hair, tearing it out in large clumps as fat tears ran down his face. He turned the tap on so that it was pushing out the water full blast; the crashing of the water soothed him slightly, making him forget about what he was going through.

That Katie girl had lived and now whenever he saw her he would just feel guilt. He wished none of this had happened and he wished that his father had never gotten involved with The Dark Lord's insane ideas. He wished that he had been different during his first year and had made friends that weren't the sons or daughters of Death Eaters and he wished that this year he had plucked up the courage to talk to Dumbledore about the issue he was going through alone. He wished that he had accepted Snape's offer of assistance at the beginning of the year.

And he wished that when he first came to Hogwarts, Harry Potter had accepted his hand in friendship before the sorting. Everything would be different then and he wouldn't be stuck in this bathroom now, crying his eyes out because he had done something beyond evil.

"I WISH I WAS DEAD," he screamed at the top of his lungs, his voice echoing off the walls of the bathroom. To his surprise, the words were followed by a small shriek.

A ghost flew from the cubicle furthest to his left. She was young and dressed in what looked like Ravenclaw robes. Her glasses were round and her hair was straight and black, she wore it in bunches. Her facial shape and glasses made Draco think she had an uncanny resemblance to Potter. She wailed loudly, her hands covering her tiny ears.

"Must you shriek so much," she wailed and Draco's wet eyes crinkled into a glare, she said that he shrieked a lot? What about her?

"Leave me alone," he managed to spit out, running a hand yet again through his already messy hair. His voice was almost venomous yet the ghost ignored his angered tone and flew closer.

"I was here first," she sulked, sitting down on the sink two away from him and crossing one leg over the other. She ran a hand through her bunches, still wailing. Draco sneered at her.

"But this is the boys' bathroom so get out!" he snapped looking up at her. She gasped at his pale face and wet eyes, still leaking from the residue of his tears. She cocked her head to one side.

"Are you okay?" she asked. Her voice still had a trace of annoyingness but now sounded more sympathetic. He shot her a glare that said _'do I look okay?'_

She reached over and patted him on the shoulder, her hand sometimes slipped through him inside of landed on top which made him shudder, "It's okay, I'm here," she said but Draco continued to ignore her, tears starting to leak again. When he started balling she looked worried and started shushing in his ear, as if she was talking to a baby.

"Shush, shush, don't cry. It will be okay,"

"…No…No it…it…won't…" he let out between sobs, gasping and gulping for air as his crying overtook him.

"Don't… Just tell me what's wrong… I can help you…" crooned the ghost.

"No one can help me…" Draco replied, his body shaking with how much he was crying. He spluttered as the ghost continued to pat his shoulder, still sometimes missing. He carried on "I can't do it… And Unless I do he'll… He'll kill me…"

Tears streamed down his face before hitting the greying basin with a silent clunk, silent to everyone but him. It was like a drum, the bang of a door opening and…

He lifted his head to look into the cracked mirror, gulping when he saw the reflection of Harry Potter staring at him from across his shoulder. The clunk must have been the door opening but he must have missed it. He spun round, drawing his wand and sending a jinx Potter's way. The other wizard blocked it easily with a swipe of his own wand before rushing behind a nearby cubicle for protection as Draco sent another curse his way. It missed and instead hit the door of the cubicle. The wood blasted into smithereens as the ghost started screaming.

"No! No! Stop fighting! Stop it!" But her words were drowned out as Potter flung a spell at Draco which he dodged easily. The curse bounced of the sink beneath the ghost, making her wail again as she flew off it into the air. A shard of china flew off the wall and hit Draco in the air, creating a deep cut from the force. He yelled out in pain and dived underneath a cubicle door, hiding himself from view.

There was silence for a few minutes whilst the two boys hid themselves. Draco, wanting to see what Potter was up to, climbed up onto the toilet seat. He put one knee on the cistern to balance himself before peering over the top of the cubicle. He ducked down seconds after as he saw the bright red flash of a stunning spell heading his way. It crashed into a mirror behind him and the ghost screeched again. He shot out of the cubicle, sending endless Reducto's at the pipes beneath the sinks. Water sprayed and splashed out of them, coating in the floor in a glistening layer of the clear liquid. Potter peered around the side of the cubicle, his eyes widening at the fast flowing water whilst Draco backed into the wall behind him. The ghost above him cried out as the water began to seep out under the bathroom door and into the corridor outside. Draco shot another spell at Potter which he narrowly missed but only by diving into the water below. The curse bounced around the room, smashing various mirrors. Potter flailed on the wet ground, trying to get up but always slipping back down again. His robes were now sopping and his glasses were smudged from where he had landed face down. Draco took his chance and angrily raised his wand, his face contorted, and cried, "Cruci–"

"SECTUMSEPRA," Potter roared, his wand waving wildly from his spot on the floor.

Before Draco could even think about where he had heard that spell before, or even what it was, sharp pains shot through his abdomen as if a hundred daggers were stabbing him all at once. He cried out in pain and clutched at his face as the same searing pains travelled around the rest of his limbs. He collapsed onto the waterlogged floor with a splash, his wand slipping from between his limp fingers.

"No–" he heard Potter gasp but couldn't say anything. The pains had stopped now but he knew he had lost a lot of blood. His breathing quickened and turned to gasping as he tried to take in oxygen. He heard a splash next to him and turned his shaking head towards the noise, through his blurred vision he could make out the faint outline of Potter knelt beside him, his face stunned and his wand moving over Draco's body, as if trying to put the blood back inside his body.

"MURDER! MURDER IN THE BATHROOM! MURDER!"

Draco could only hear it faintly but he knew it was the ghost wailing again. His eyes were drooping and the edges of his vision kept changing from black to white.

A dull bang echoed in his ringing ears and the next minute Potter was pushed to the side. A bat-like figure took his place, chanting incantations from beside him whilst he continued to cough and splutter, from the looks of his crooked nose and long black hair, it was Snape.

Draco knew it; he knew he was going to die. His gasping for air was growing ever slower and the darkness in his eyes were spreading so that he could only see what was directly above him.

He deserved this, despite his mother's calming words over the summer when The Dark Lord had given him his task. She had told him that the task was wrong and that nobody deserved to die like this. Draco did. He had done so much wrong with his life and nothing was going to make it right. When someone, whether it was him or another Death Eater, carried out the task he was assigned to do; the wizarding world would be in grave danger and Voldemort would surely win.

Snape was still chanting, his voice sounding more and more determined. He could faintly hear Potter's heavy breathing and remembered his wish from earlier.

_'If only Harry Potter had accepted his hand in friendship before the sorting.'_

He could feel himself being lifted, he felt weak and his knees were knocking. He didn't feel as if he had any life in him at all, in fact, he felt as if he was already dead. That was until he heard Snape talking in his ear.

"You need to get to the hospital wing. You may have scarring but if you take dittany immediately we might even avoid that."

"Professor…"

"Silence Potter," Snape spat as he dragged Draco towards the door, struggling with the weight of a fully grown sixteen year old boy "Stay here and I will deal with you later," he said in a voice that made the remains of Draco's blood run cold. He knew they were out of the bathroom when he heard the heavy door slam shut again, the dull thud drumming in his ears.

Snape half-carried half-dragged him towards the Hospital Wing yet Draco still couldn't see anything. It was as though as the blood vessels had rushed from his eyes and were now travelling to his heart so that they could continue to keep him alive. Many times he slumped against Snape as his legs gave way and to his surprise, Snape always managed to pick him back up again.

When they finally got to the Hospital Wing, Draco heard Madame Pomfrey squeal in horror at Draco's stance and sopping wet, coated in blood see through white shirt. His matted platinum blonde hair also caked in his own blood.

"Get the dittany! NOW!" Snape urged as he set Draco down on the nearest bed. A clatter of heels told him that Madame Pomfrey had agreed and was now rushing to get the dittany. She returned shortly after and began to talk to Snape about what had happened.

"…But how did he get like this?" she asked for about the fourth time, and for the fourth time, Snape turned her questions down.

"I've told you before and I will tell you again Poppy, you do not need to know."

"But…"

"Enough! I have to go talk to someone now but I will come back shortly to see how he is getting on."

"Okay Severus," the matron whispered, her voice choked as Snape swept from the room, his cloak billowing out behind him.

A sharp stinging feeling flowed through the entire length of his body and a hiss escaped his dry lips.

"Just relax Mr Malfoy, relax and it will be okay," the matron said soothingly as she continued to pour dittany into each of his many wounds.

Snape returned about an hour after Draco had arrived in the Hospital Wing. He spoke in hushed words to Madame Pomfrey before leaving the room once again.

That night Draco lay in his bed, his heart banging against his chest and his heard whirring as he thought about what the Dark Lord would do to him when he found out about this. Everything Draco had done, witnessed or experienced today marked how pathetic he was and The Dark Lord would not be happy to hear that Harry Potter had nearly killed yet another of his followers again. He would probably take it upon himself to torture Draco with every spell he knew in front of his parents and even after that, might result to killing him.

He tossed and turned, wincing every time he crashed down on a bandaged up wound. His heart was pounding and his head was throbbing and every time he winced, he thought about what could have happened if Harry Potter had accepted his hand in friendship before the sorting in first year.

**TBC**

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_**Author's Note:**__ So what do you think? By the way I'm Emma and I'm a fifteen year old author from England. I love Draco/Hermione and I thought that this was quite an original idea... or at least I haven't read one like it before. Well, you don't even really know what's going to happen next so I'll stop talking for now... my lips are sealed before I give too many spoilers away mwahaha, I'm so evil!_

_So I hope you enjoyed it, then I recommend that you perhaps check out my other stories "__**Secret Malfoy**__", "__**Failing Authorities**", "**The Problem with**** Granger's**", and it's sequel "**The Other Problem with Granger's**"... if you have read them then I am extremely grateful that you have spent your time reading them and I hope you enjoy "**The Hand of Friendship**" and keep reading until the end. Please leave a review.  
_

_Many Thanks,_

**_-Emma_**


	2. Two Snakes and a Lion

**THE HAND OF FRIENDSHIP**

**CHAPTER 2: TWO SNAKES AND A LION**

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**_Author's Note: _**_I just wanted to say a big thank you to the reviewers of this chapter _**_GreekPrincess143, littlebunny48_**_, __**xXDropsOfJupiterXx**__, Guest, __**TheOneWithRedSocks**__, Guest, __**CleoTheo**__, __**xXBeliverXx**__, and __**Ramyfan**__..._

_For those who write stories you will know what it feels like when people review great things for your story and I currently feel like a very happy chappy. Thank you again and enjoy the chapter :)_

* * *

Draco could hear whispering above him, and by the sounds of things the whispers were about him. His head was throbbing slightly but apart from that he felt completely fine, he found this a bit odd since, if he could remember rightly, the last thing that had happened to him was that Potter had attacked him with unknown dark magic; unknown dark magic that had caused an invisible knife to slash through his clothing and flesh, scarring his pale complexion.

The whispers got louder and Draco couldn't help but listen in. There were two voices, a female and male by the sounds of it, they were familiar voices but not something that he could place immediately.

"But what if he doesn't wake up?"

Draco groaned inwardly at the concerned female voice, it sounded exactly like something Pansy would say even though he had enjoyed the attention from her, he didn't want her to come rushing back to him just because he got hit by a dark spell whilst he was crying in the bathroom about a task the Dark Lord had forced upon him. Just when he thought that he was getting rid of her and that she was moving onto Blaise, she comes running back the second he gets into a spot of trouble and ends up in the hospital wing.

"Stop worrying, he will wake up. It was only a little fall."

Draco scowled slightly, wanting to open his eyes but sleep still overcoming him; his tired eyes refusing to open and reveal the two people beside his bed. What did they mean by _little fall_? He had been attacked with dark magic that had very nearly killed him if Snape hadn't turned up.

"_Little fall?_ He could've died!"

Despite her annoying concern for him, this female did speak sense. He had nearly died.

"He only fell off a broom Hermione."

Draco felt the blood drain from his head and he began to feel dizzy. There was only one person in the whole school called Hermione and she was not supposed to sound concerned for him. She was a mudblood, a Gryffindor mudblood which made things even worse. She wasn't even supposed to talk to him or even stand anywhere near him, yet according to the voices around him, she was stood directly at the foot of his bed.

He willed his eyes to open and slowly the lids cracked apart. His vision was blurry from where he was still tired and the bright light that erupted from the windows surrounding the room didn't help his eyesight at all.

Finally he briefly made out two figures at the foot of his bed; they seemed to be bickering about something which gave Draco a headache.

"Harry, all I'm saying is that if he hasn't woken up yet, he might never wake up."

Draco nearly fell out of bed from the females words, did she just say Harry? But if that was Harry and he had called his friend Hermione. That must mean?

Oh shit.

He could finally make out what they looked like and nearly fell out of bed at the mass of bushy brown hair that belonged to the female in front of him, she was waving her arms around but that didn't stop him from seeing the flash of gold and red on her Gryffindor tie, her voice was still stern as she lectured the other boy beside her. Draco had a pinch himself slightly to make sure he wasn't dreaming as he spotted the boy's messy black hair and rounded glasses, he had a broom draped over his shoulder which was something that the female was also lecturing him about;

"You shouldn't be waving that thing around, what it you hit someone…?"

"Hermione cut it out for one minute would you? I'm kind of more worried about Draco than about hitting someone in the face,"

"But…"

"Hermione," the boy shook his head to silence her but Draco was more interested, or surprised, about the way the boy had so casually said that he was worried about him.

It was without a doubt that the two pupils in front of him were wonder-boy Harry Potter and his muggleborn friend Hermione Granger, the thing that was bugging him though was why they were there, they were supposed to hate him.

Draco decided the only way he would find out why they were there would be to wake up, he probably didn't even have his eyes open and it was probably all some concussion enhanced dream that made Granger and Potter feel friendship towards him. If he pinched himself now he probably wouldn't even feel it because he was dreaming, not that he would pinch himself because that would ruin his flawless complexion.

He jammed his eyes closed before opening them again. Nope, the two Gryffindor's were still stood in front of him. He repeated it.

Still there.

He was just doing the same thing for about the fifth time when Granger's head spun around and looked right into his wide eyes, her mouth hung open and grabbed Potter's arm, the Gryffindor's stared at Draco in complete and utter shock before Granger launched over to him and threw her arms around him, tackling him down onto the mattress as she hugged him.

Draco didn't know what to do so just sat there, not knowing whether to push her off or hug her back.

_What are you talking about you idiot? Push her off! She's mudblood Granger!_

Draco blinked a few times as the words ran through his mind before he lifted his arms, with great difficulty since Granger had pushed them down to either side of his body, and gave her a harsh shove on her shoulders. She lost her balance and toppled backwards, Potter latching under the crooks of her armpits before she collapsed completely.

"What are you doing?" Draco growled in outrage, his eyes flashing dangerously. He watched as Potter helped Granger to her original position, the pair of them blinking in apparent confusion. Then Granger reached forward to touch his arm, he flinched and pulled away, confused and surprised by the pairs sudden closeness to him.

Granger gasped slightly when Draco flinched away; then she turned to a gaping Potter.

"Harry, you don't think the fall gave him concussion? Or worse, made him lose his memory all together?"

Draco lay still in shock as Potter leaned forward so that their faces were nearly touching, then he waved a hand in front of Draco's face and spoke in a slow voice.

"Do you know who I am?" he droned and Draco had the sudden urge to throw a hex Potter's way that would make him speak like that permanently, that would be something he could laugh about whenever he heard him speak.

Draco pushed Potter's face away, wiping his hands on his bed sheets once it had been removed from the Gryffindor's face, he did not need Gryffindor germs all over his perfect pureblood skin. He began to wonder if his stupid thought from yesterday 'what would have happened if Potter had accepted his hand in friendship during their first year' was just a spur of the moment because he had been emotional. Seeing how weird Potter and Granger were acting today was not something he would want to be associated with every day for seven years.

Potter and Granger looked at each other with the same shocked look on their faces, then they both turned their faces to Draco how shuffled further back on the bed, afraid of their fixed stares. He ran his eyes up and down their bodies, perhaps Pansy and Blaise had stolen some Polyjuice Potion from Slughorn's supply and were playing a really nasty trick on him, he shook that thought from his head, Pansy and Blaise liked a laugh but they wouldn't even go close enough to the pair of Gryffindor's to get some of their DNA to add to the Potion.

That was when Draco noticed the clothes they were bearing, it wasn't something he had thought of looking at before, since Potter was clearing wearing a Quidditch uniform and Granger her school robes. But it wasn't the type of clothes they were wearing, Granger's were exactly the same as her everyday Gryffindor robes, it was the colour of Potter's Quidditch uniform, since when did Gryffindor's wear green robes with silver piping? They didn't, that's when.

"Been stealing uniforms off Slytherin's for your friend Weasley have you, Potter?" Draco sneered "In case you didn't realise, us singing _Weasley is our King_ wasn't because we wanted him to join our side, it's because he's bloody rubbish."

Potter scowled, peering down at his green robes "What are you talking about Draco, these are my Quidditch robes? And why would I take uniforms for that scummy little rodent."

Draco choked on the words that he was about to spurt, he didn't know whether he should be more surprised by the fact that Potter said the Slytherin robes were his or about the fact that he just called Weasley a 'scummy little rodent'? He decided to turn to Granger for support but was equally as shocked to witness the look of distaste on her face proving that she clearly agreed with Potter's statement.

He was just about to say something when Madame Pomfrey glided down the stairs to her office and into the wing, when she saw that Draco was awake she smiled and walked over to the trio.

"Ah Mr Malfoy, you're awake, okay, you can go now."

Draco flung his legs over the side of the bed, ready to leave the crazy pair of Gryffindor's, but was stopped as a hand placed on his shoulder.

"But Madame Pomfrey…"

Draco looked up at whose hand was on his shoulder and pushed it off when he realised it was Granger's.

"Yes Miss Granger?" Madame Pomfrey said impatiently, Draco was beginning to agree with her tone, he just wanted to get away from these madmen.

"I don't think Draco is fit to leave the hospital wing, he…"

"Just leave it Hermione," Potter interrupted "Thanks for looking after him Madame Pomfrey,"

"Not at all Mr Potter, it was quite a nasty fall he had, now you three run along or you'll be late for dinner,"

Granger and Potter nodded as the older witch returned to her office, Draco stood up and brushed the crinkles from his clothes, which seemed to be the same Slytherin Quidditch uniform Potter was dressed in. He frowned.

"Are you sure you didn't steal the uniform Potter, it's a pretty anti-Gryffindor thing to do?"

"What are you going on about Draco; of course I didn't steal the uniform? And why do you keep calling me Potter?"

"Because that's your name, you should just be happy I call you that since I could think of many other names for you and Granger,"

"And why do you keep calling me Granger?"

"Would you rather I'd call you mudblood?" he drawled, expecting the usual reaction of Granger huffing and turning away, what he saw wasn't what he was used to though.

Granger's face fell and her eyes began to tear, Draco mentally kicked himself, he didn't mean to make her cry.

"What did you just call her?" Potter said, giving Draco and harsh shove backwards into the metal frames of the bed "What are you playing at mate? First you call us by our last names and then you call Hermione… that _word_."

Draco scoffed "I was only joking,"

Potter looked as if he was about to explode whilst Granger just sat down on the adjacent bed, breathing heavily as if she was hyperventilating.

"You were only joking were you, about that? You of all people should know that's not something you should joke about! Remember the incident with Montague in third year."

Draco's eyebrows burrowed together, what incident?

"I mean for Merlin's sake Draco, you're supposed to be our best friend?"

Wait what!? What did Potter just say? That the three of them were best friends, no way would that ever happen. They were best friends with Weasley so what happened to him, he and Potter met on the train so the only way they wouldn't be friends would be if…

Draco's eyes widened as he remembered what exactly happened when he arrived at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry five years ago, he was waiting for McGonagall and asked Potter to be his friend, he only did it because Potter was famous. Fame meant popularity and even though Draco knew he would already have that in the bag with his surname, he still wanted to make sure it would actually happen. But Potter had to go and ruin everything by turning down his hand in friendship and becoming best pals with that giant ape Weasley and then later brain box Granger. There was no way he would actually be friends with Potter unless… unless he had accepted his hand in friendship all those years ago.

"No way," he muttered to himself, the wish he had made yesterday, the thought about what would have happened if Potter had accepted to be his friend, there was no way it could have become true overnight?

But it all added together, if Potter, _Harry,_ had accepted his friendship then he would most likely be in Slytherin, hence the matching green Quidditch robes. They would be close friends by now, Harry replacing where Blaise had been for the past five years.

But what about Granger she was still in Gryffindor, that was made obvious by not only her uniform but also her blood status, so why was she friends with two Slytherin's? It just didn't make sense.

"Draco, are you going to say something or just stand there like a lemon?"

Stand there like a lemon? What did that mean? It must be some kind of stupid muggle saying?

He shook himself from his daze before turning to the two Gryffindors, well one Gryffindor and one Slytherin. He saw Granger still sobbing on the bed and gulped, he did feel kind of bad now that he thought about all the things that had shot through his mind just then. If he really was their best friend, then Granger's best friend had just called her the worst thing you could ever call a muggleborn. No wonder Potter had been so angry.

"I… I'm sorry… Granger," he choked out, she lifted her head and he saw that her eyes were rimmed with red from her tears.

"I'm sorry, Hermione," he corrected and watched as a smile began to grace her lips. She shook her head, still smiling.

"It's okay; I know you didn't mean it."

_Wrong._

"I forgive you; it was obviously just a slip of the tongue,"

_Wrong again._

Potter glared "Yeah alright, just don't do it again,"

_Right you are Potter, I am never going to use that word again._

Potter helped Hermione up as she wiped her eyes clean, Draco watched as Potter's eyes scanned him for a moment before he produced something from his pocket and handed it over to Hermione. It was a handkerchief. Draco wondered if that was usually his job since Potter looked at him before bringing it out.

"Let's just all go back to the common room before dinner, I'm sure the Slytherin's won't mind if you come in with us Hermione,"

Draco stood stunned at the thought of his fellow Slytherin's being okay with mud… _muggleborn…_ Granger being in their common room with them. He followed behind the pair obediently as Potter led Hermione out of the hospital wing as if she was the patient. Draco wondered in his head if a victim was the same as a patient because if it was Hermione was definitely the patient anyway, especially after the way he treated her.

He felt odd as he walked through the corridors flanked by Potter and Granger, when people looked at them he wanted to run and hide so that news didn't spread that he was hanging around with them, then he remembered that the trio had apparently been friends for five years so nobody would care if they saw the unlikely threesome together. When they finally escaped the torture and reached the Slytherin common room entry, the only dirty looks they had received had been from some fifth year Gryffindor's, and the looks had been directed at Hermione. Draco began to feel for her slightly, it must be horrible being in a house with people who hated your best friends just because they were Slytherin's. Talk about judging people. He thought Gryffindor's were supposed to be the kind hearted, non-judging, valiant type who loved everyone except Slytherin's.

Potter opened the door to a loud ruckus that reminded Draco that he was at least still in Slytherin and hadn't been put in Gryffindor instead just because he was friends with the famous Harry Potter, he didn't know what he would do if he woke up to find out he was in Gryffindor, being friends with one current and one previous lion was enough.

"Draco you're back!" a familiar voice cried and his face stretched into a huge grin when he same the bronzed skin of Blaise Zabini.

"We were so worried about you," came another female voice and his grin widened, if that was even possible, when he saw Pansy waving from the sofa where she was sat next to Daphne Greengrass, Granger had also joined her which he found really odd. Potter high fived Theodore Nott who produced a butterbeer from his pocket and handed it over.

Blaise flung his arm over Potter's shoulder "We've decided to skip dinner tonight, stole a load of drinks from a couple of Gryffindor second years who were taking it up to their common room for that goof Weasley's birthday."

"Which one?" Theo chimed in which caused a roar of laughter, even Potter and Granger joined in which was very odd considering in another time they were his best friends.

"Not going to the caveman's party Hermione?"

"No, for some reason I wasn't invited," she said with a hint of sarcasm.

"Oh don't worry Hermione, you can stay and party with us. Way more fun,"

"And don't I know it," she said, responding to Pansy with a glint of amusement in her eyes.

After about fifteen minutes of watching Potter laugh with Theo and Blaise and Granger gossip with Pansy and Daphne, Draco felt extremely weird hanging around with two people they were supposed to hate, he quickly mumbled something to Goyle about feeling really tired before marching up the stairs to his dormitory.

He yanked off his Quidditch kit and pulled on his emerald silk pyjamas before settling into bed, as he looked around the dorm he noticed there was an extra bed that was most likely for Potter, shuffling down further under the covers he could still hear the loud noise that was the gathering in the common room. Usually he would be right on in there, laughing with his mates, probably trying to get Blaise to ask out his latest date, but today that just didn't feel right.

His eyelids drifted down and soon all he could hear was the distant boom as someone started up some music, maybe everything was just some stupid dream he had come up with because the spell Potter had fired at him had made him delirious. Maybe.

**TBC **

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**_Author's note: _**_Hey again, I hope you enjoyed the next chapter of The Hand of Friendship. I know it's been a while but I've been busy with a show for two weeks and then I went on holiday to Belgium (lovely place by the way) because it's the summer holidays and I'll be going back to school soon to start Year 11 (or as Americans call it 'Sophomore year')… Anyway, what do you think of the story so far, I hope you don't think I've let Draco work it out too quick because believe me, the story will not be over that quickly :)_

_I wanted to thank everyone who had favourited and followed the story so far because I really wasn't expecting so much response in just the first chapter. Let's hope the popularity continues throughout._

_Please review and tell me what you think so that I can improve bit by bit since I am only a beginner and writing is something I want to do when I'm older, journalism and magazine articles… stuff like that so every little helps I say :)_

_Well this has turned into quite a long author's note so until next time._

_Many Thanks,_

**_ -Emma_**


	3. Savage Lions

**THE HAND OF FRIENDSHIP**

**CHAPTER 3: SAVAGE LIONS**

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**_Author's note: _**_I just want to say a big thank you to the reviewers of the previous chapter, I received so many in such a short space of time which makes me so happy so a big thank you to __**Wingwizard161**__, __**Ramyfan**__, __**Cleotheo**__, __**chupeechan**__, __**Edwardloverx3**__, __**tacker23**__, Kirsten, __**TherSia**__, __**Kiyuuri**__, __**fitty909**__, __**IGOTEAMEDWARD**__, __**BornInTheBeautifulSouth**__, __**AliceSherlockHolmes**__, __**TheElegentFaerie,**__**sheddingeverycolor**_

_Thank you again and I hope you enjoy the third chapter of The Hand of Friendship x_

_Another thing, I know I said the story would be third person in Draco's POV but I just wanted to add this little part from Hermione's POV because a lot of people have said they feel sorry for her and I wanted them to know the truth about Hermione's life in Gryffindor when her two best friends are Slytherin's. Enjoy :)_

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When Hermione Granger opened her eyes it was only just getting light and all her roommates were still tucked away and fast asleep in their beds, just the way she liked it.

You see, Hermione preferred to get up early and get dressed before the girls in her room awoke so she could avoid the constant abuse and torture she received from them each morning just because her two best friends were Slytherins. Surely it didn't matter who her friends were it should matter who she was, but they didn't seem to like that either.

The worst of the group was the tall girly girl that was Lavender Brown, ever since she started dating Ron Weasley she was the cruellest she had ever been to Hermione yet the muggleborn witch had no idea why. She thought that after getting the boy she had fancied for two years, Lavender would be over the moon and that her attitude towards Hermione would change and become kinder but no, she still decided that her favourite part of the day was making the Gryffindor's life a misery.

Her best friend Pavarti was no better but it wasn't because she was mean to Hermione, in fact Pavarti had always been the civil one of the pair. No, the reason Pavarti was just as bad was because she sat and watched as Lavender tormented her and didn't do anything about it which in Hermione's books was just the same as bullying.

She and Lavender were also the gossip duo of the school so even if Hermione did tolerate them she would still steer clear of the girls, she did not need her personal life spread around the school like butter on bread, she unlike others preferred her personal life to be kept a secret to herself and she alone.

Last year an extremely nasty rumour had turned up about her and luckily the Slytherin's managed to set it straight but it still reminded her of the horrid things Lavender Brown could come up with because it was hands down Lavender who started the lie.

She quietly flung her covers off and yanked her uniform down from where is was tossed over her canopy, she always put it there so nobody would hear her when as she rummaged through her trunk in order to find her uniform since her trunk was fall to the brim with heavy books and they did not move quietly. She pulled on her uniform as carefully as she could so no sudden noise or movement would wake up an unwanted guest, if Lavender saw her in her underwear or worse she would have a whale of a time telling the whole school that Hermione Granger still wore briefs and not bikini knickers or thongs.

According to Lavender she already broke the feminist rule because her skirt wasn't high than her knee, Hermione had simply replied with a simple 'it's the school's policy,' at which Lavender had just laughed in her face and hitched her baggy skirt up a tad higher. Hermione had silently thought that even if her skirt reached her knee, she had still been asked out by way more people than Lavender, she just turned them all down, or at least Harry and Draco did. She wasn't able to date anyone they thought would hurt her so that practically meant nobody. Even when Theodore Nott, their own roommate and friend, asked her out in third year they refused to let her go to Hogsmeade with him because apparently he was too close to them? She still didn't understand that and she was supposed to be the smartest witch of her age?

Despite her friends strange antics with her dating people she still loved them so much and she wasn't lying when she said she had a crush on both of them throughout her time at Hogwarts. When she first met Harry on the train he was so nice she immediately liked him, and then when they became friends in first year her crush grew. It wasn't until third year when the two boys began to hit puberty that she went off Harry and started to develop feelings for Draco, they still hadn't completely bypassed now but she knew she wouldn't stand a chance with him. His father simply wouldn't allow it because she was a muggleborn; he didn't even know that Draco was friends with the pair of them since he only invited Pansy, Blaise and Theo over during the holidays. If they met up it would be in Diagon Alley or at Hermione's house and Hermione's family usually went on holiday during the summer so that left Harry and Draco to Diagon Alley. Unfortunately, because Harry's Aunt and Uncle treated him like a slave and locked him away at night, he couldn't just pick up the floo and go to Diagon Alley. The three of them couldn't wait until they could apparate so that they could just pop into Diagon Alley whenever they felt like it during the holidays.

Hermione pulled her extremely bushy hair into a low lazy ponytail with an overstretched hair band that had been living on her wrist since the beginning of year five, she always used the same one because she knew how it felt, plus, since this year her hair had gotten rather long so if she didn't tie it up, something always seemed to end up tangled in it. The other day she came back to find a load of twigs in it but she wasn't sure whether they landed there at their own accord or whether someone threw them in there when the three of them had been relaxing over by the lake when they had a free period.

Hermione heard a moan from beside her and shot her head around to see Fay Dunbar sitting up and rubbing her eyes tiredly, Hermione let out a sigh of relief, Fay didn't really talk to her much but at least it wasn't Lavender or Pavarti who had woken up, they would have called her cowardly and pathetic for getting up so early.

"Hermione is that you?" Fay groaned

"Shush," she hissed back, she didn't want Fay's stupidity to get her bullied "Yes it's me, what do you want?"

"Why are you up so early?" Fay asked her voice still quite loud even though she was trying to whisper.  
Hermione bit her lip, thinking of an answer for Fay's ridiculous question, why her roommates couldn't make her life that little bit easier by leaving her be she'll never know, "I needed to study,"

"It's half past six in the morning,"

"So, I start early," Hermione growled before throwing her muggle novel into her satchel and flinging the bag over her shoulder. She walked out of the dorm leaving a very confused Fay behind her.

Hermione had to admit that she did feel kind of bad for Fay, the girl always tried to be nice to her when the others were cruel but she always turned away her advances of a friendship; it wasn't that she didn't like her, she just didn't want the girl to be tormented as she was and Hermione knew that if Fay became her friend she would become as out casted as she was by the other girls in her dorm.

Finding her favourite seat by the fireplace that had a high back so nobody could see her sat there, Hermione sat down and began to read. She did this every morning which was why she ended up getting through so many books in the school year. Every day she would wake up at half past six, then she would get dressed and come downstairs to read, then at precisely half past seven she would head off to breakfast before anyone else managed to get down to the common room. Obviously it didn't always work and sometimes she ended up being teased by the group of six Gryffindor's who made her life a misery, she always thought that she would be best friends with people in her own house and that they would get up and go down to breakfast together, talking and gossiping about teachers and homework. But things didn't go her way because that perfect morning turned into her hiding until half past seven when she could go and get her breakfast with her friends. Nobody seemed to like her in this house which upset her slightly, she thought that maybe if she was in Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff things would be different but even they blanked her sometimes, the only person who didn't was Luna Lovegood but she was crazy so Hermione didn't really think of her as an acquaintance.

After she had read two long chapters she checked the huge grandfather clock in the corner to see that it was nearly half past, she was just getting back into her book when a loud bang from the staircase shocked her. She peered around the side of the armchair to see six people emerge from the stairs, six people she really didn't want to see this early in the morning. Fay followed behind, seeing Hermione's head immediately and sending her an apologetic look, Hermione glared before slouching down deeper into the chair; she could hear their voices now.

"Can you believe her, she actually gets up early so she doesn't have to see us in the morning?!" That was Lavender's annoying high-pitched squeal. The loud booming chorus of laughs was torture to Hermione's eyes.

"No way, how pathetic,"

"I wonder where she is now,"

"Probably sat in the library studying,"

"No she's not, the library isn't open yet, she might still be in here."

Hermione shuddered as she heard the taunting voice of Ronald Weasley, if anyone was to blame for her friendship with Draco and Harry then he was the one. Even though he bullied her he still had the cheek to ask her out last year to which she turned him down, after that he had started dating Lavender and the pair had become increasingly meaner to her.

"Let's find her then," a shrill voice cried and Hermione gulped when she heard the other Weasley voice of Gryffindor. Ron's sister Ginny was one of the biggest get-around's ever and also one of the cruellest people in their little group, last year she and Lavender had managed to sneak a hair removal potion into her shampoo which sent her straight into the hospital wing after use because she was bald, the two girls even had the cheek to say that it was an improvement because it meant that she didn't have that nest she called hair lying atop her head anymore.

She tried to think of a way to escape whilst she heard the group wander around looking for her, in the end she decided it would be easier to just make a run for it so throwing her bag over her shoulder she pushed her chair aside and ran as fast as she could out of the portrait hole.

"You must be hungry," the fat lady called after her as she raced down the stairs, hearing the group behind her. It was obvious they would have spotted her, how could they not when she pushed a chair aside to do so. She kept running until she reached the fourth floor where she was sure she had lost them. She decided it was probably around half past seven now and that Harry and Draco would be waiting for her. Stopping to catch her breath she slid down the wall and tucked her knees under her chin, she couldn't wait until she got out of this place and she wouldn't have to see any of the horrid Gryffindor's ever again.

* * *

"…And then she said that if I don't hand in my essay by tomorrow I'll get a week's worth of lunchtime detentions… are you even listening to me mate?"

Draco's head shot up as Blaise directed something from his long rant at him. He paused for a moment before deciding that saying yes would probably be the best way to get out of this, he nodded slowly but Blaise's raised brow proved he didn't believe him.

"What was I talking about then?" he asked testily and Draco frowned.

When he had woken up this morning, Draco had thought it had just been a normal day, he forgot all about the fact that he seemed to be in an alternate universe where he was best friends with Hermione Granger and Harry Potter. Well that was until he woke up with Harry Potter fast asleep in the bed next to him, Slytherin school robes hanging off the end of his bed and a green duvet coating his bed. He had gotten dressed as quickly as possible and had sprinted out of the dormitory only to crash into Blaise who seemed slightly surprised by Draco's freaked out demeanour, he offered to accompany him down to breakfast which at first Draco thought was a great idea, that was until he started moaning about some Transfiguration homework Draco had no clue about, now he was bored and slightly worried because if he had no idea about the homework he began to think that McGonagall's punishment for Blaise might end up exactly the same for him.

"Okay Blaise, I wasn't listening, are you happy now?"

Blaise shrugged as the pair of Slytherin's turned a corner and ended up at the grand staircase which opened onto the large oak doors of the Great Hall. Blaise was just entering the hall for his breakfast, Draco following, when the blonde heard a kind of jeering. He spun around to see Hermione Granger struggling down the staircase, a book clutched to her chest and a satchel swinging on her shoulder, her face looked pained though and when Draco looked behind her he could see why.

Six Gryffindor's were following closely behind her, giving her shoves and shouting abuse at her. Draco was most surprised to see the scummy little rodent Weasley at the front of the pack, cheering on and encouraging the bullying.

Draco had never seen Gryffindor's act like this, ganging up on a single person and the bullying them, they didn't even do that to Slytherin's so why were they doing it to Hermione.

"Go on then traitor, hurry up and get your pathetic fat ass to breakfast so we can have some too, you're blocking up the staircase."

Draco turned and glared at Lavender Brown who was the one who had shrilled out the cruel words, everyone on the staircase was now looking at the group but none of the six seemed to care. Weasley's annoying little sister, Weaslette, giggled spitefully as she sent a tickling jinx Hermione's way, luckily the Weaslette couldn't do silent spells so Hermione just answered with a simple 'protego' and the tickling jinx bounced off the shield created, landing on an unsuspecting first year who started laughing hysterically.

As Hermione reached the bottom steps Draco thought she might soon be safe but unfortunately, however dumb he was, Weasley _could_ produce a silent tripping charm and Hermione was sent flying forwards. Draco did the only thing he could do as she tumbled down the final steps, he could either save her or she would end up with a broken nose, or worse.

He rushed forward and caught her around the waist just before she touched the ground; she looked up and hugged him when she saw who it was.

"Thanks Draco, that could've been nasty," she said before pulling away and brushing herself off. She turned to face the Gryffindors.

"Real mature,"

"Ooo, so you're all tough now that your boyfriend's here to protect you."

Draco gulped at Brown's words, surely Potter and Granger would've told him if he was actually dating Granger, however that would explain the hugging and the crying yesterday,

_No, Potter said you were their best friend, not Granger's boyfriend!_

That was true; Potter would have surely said something. Maybe it's just a rumour.

_That would be a terrible rumour though; you and Granger just wouldn't work out, even in an alternate universe. Hang on, why am I even thinking about dating Granger? Yuck._

"He is not my boyfriend," Hermione growled through clenched teeth. She was glaring but her cheeks were slightly tinged pink.

"Really, what about when you snogged him last year?"

_Wait what? I snogged Granger? No way._

"I just did that to make Weasley keep away from me and look it worked, he also threw in a dumb bimbo girlfriend as well so I suppose everyone wins."

_Ding ding ding, point to Granger._

Brown frowned and hooked her arm through Weasley's before dragging him off, her nose high in the air as she stalked past Draco and Hermione, their gang following behind obediently, Ginny actually spat in Hermione's direction but it landed at her feet.

"Sorry," Draco apologised quickly, not quite knowing why he was doing so. Granger's shocked face showed him that she also didn't know why he was apologising.

"What? Why are you saying sorry? It wasn't your fault."

Draco shrugged and a small smiled graced her lips, Draco thought she had a very nice smile, as smiles go that is, after the incident with Pansy during fourth year her teeth had gotten straighter though he began to wonder if the incident had ever happened because the two girls seemed very close nowadays. Maybe Weaslette had been the one who had sent the teeth engorging charm since she had always been good at spells and Draco had heard she sent an impressive bat-bogey spell during the beginning of this year.

"Are you having breakfast then, or are you just going to stand around out here because I don't know about you but I'm hungry."

Draco stood in silence for a moment until he faced Granger and realised she was talking to him. He nodded mutely before following her into the Great Hall.

The room was already crowded as many students had snuck in whilst the battle between Hermione and the other Gryffindor's had been commencing. Draco spotted Blaise sat next to Theo; they seemed to be having a heated conversation. He was just about to walk over when a heavy hand clapped him on the shoulder. His head peered around to see the messy black hair and rounded glasses of Harry Potter.

"You were up early mate,"

Draco didn't know what to do so just played along, edging towards Granger slowly so Potter's hand wasn't on his shoulder anymore. Despite him catching Granger earlier, he still didn't like any kind of body contact with either of them.

"Uh yeah, I was really hungry,"

"Well at least you saw Hermione; I thought you might miss her in your hurry."

Draco didn't know what he was talking about; the three of them obviously met up outside the Great Hall every morning, but shook his head.

"Nope, she was here, shall we grab some breakfast before lessons start?"

"Sure," the three of them walked into the Great Hall where Hermione said goodbye to them and walked off to the Gryffindor table. Harry sat down next to Pansy, taking a roll from the basket opposite him as he snuck a look at Hermione. The witch was now sat right at the end of the long table, alone with a book open on the table beside her. She shovelled cereal into her mouth, not tearing her eyes away from the book.

"I don't like her being sat on that table with Weasley and his clan, I tried to talk to McGonagall about her moving to sit with us but she said that it's school rules to sit at your house table during all meals and if she let Hermione move everyone else would want to move so they could sit with their friends from other houses."

"That's stupid," Pansy stated, taking a gulp of pumpkin juice "We're Hermione's friends and she deserves to sit with us, no one else on that table welcomes her." She angrily tore a piece of bread apart and shoved it in her mouth. Blaise and Theo just stared at her with their mouths agape; shoving food into your mouth was not something a proud pureblood should do. Harry however was looking at her with some kind of newfound respect as he watched her stuff her face with bread.

"Oh you should have seen what Weasley and his gang did to Hermione this morning, if it wasn't for Draco she could've broken various body parts and…" but Blaise cut off at the look on Potter's face, his skin was going red and his fist was whitening from the tight clasp he had on his fork.

"What did they do?" she hissed, he mouth turned upright into a disgusted sneer.

"Well…" Blaise started and suddenly fell into the story of what happened early, Draco didn't even know he had been watching so was surprised by how much he knew. At the end of the story, breakfast was nearly over and Potter looked as if he was going to blow a fuse.

"That little prick, just wait until I get my hands on him." He looked at Draco who blinked before nodding.

"Uh yeah… me too,"

When Dumbledore stood up to tell the school that lessons were to start in fifteen minutes, Harry jumped up from his seat and stalked Weasley and Brown out of the hall. Blaise and Theo followed with amused faces whilst Pansy joined Hermione and led her out into the entrance hall.

When Draco arrived there was already a circle forming and he could hear Potter's voice.

"How dare you use a silent tripping jinx on Hermione when her back was turned, that's just cowardly!"

Draco pushed a few people out of the way to see Weasley pushed up against the wall with Potter's wand at his throat, Potter was shouting abuse in his face whilst Blaise and Theo snickered nearby, he shuffled over to join them and watch the scene.

"You dare do that again and I'll be sending worse than a tripping jinx your way, understand?"

"What are you going to do about it Potter? I'm not scared of you."

"Don't doubt me Weasley,"

"I don't, there's nothing to doubt, you're a coward, what are you going to do? Set your friends Death Eater father's on me?"

Theo drew his wand as Draco did the same, it felt weird defending Potter but everything had been weird since he got here so there was no change there.

"Get out of here Weasley, before I get nasty."

Weasley was just about to reply with a cutting remark when Brown grabbed his arm and pulled him away, mumbling something about how he wasn't worth it.

"Thanks Harry," Hermione said, giving him a brief hug. Draco noticed it wasn't quite a long as the hug she had given him but Potter still seemed happy with the embrace.

"At least we have Charms with the Ravenclaws next and not the Lions," Blaise growled and everyone agreed. Hermione said goodbye to the group and Harry and Pansy offered to walk her to her next class, she declined but thanked them anyway before turning on her heel and marching away. Her head held high as she pushed passed a raging Weasley.

**TBC **

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**_Author's note: _**_Ooo I wrote this chapter really quickly and I finished it just after I posted the previous chapter and now I feel so proud of myself because this was a near 4,000 word chapter and I have finished it in around three hours… YAY (if not slightly sad because it means I have spent three hours of my day in front of a computer screen writing stories for you) Oh well, it's worth it when I get all your lovely reviews :)_

_Again I can't believe how many kind reviews I have received from you all, it really makes me want to carry on with this story until the very end (which trust me, we have a very long way to go yet)_

_So what do you think about me writing a bit in Hermione's POV? Did you like it or not because I kind of enjoyed writing in another person's point of view, it was fun!_

_Anyway, that's three chapters down and so you may or may not know what's coming next, it's… drum roll please!_

_THE INTERLUDE CHAPTER WOO!_

_See you don't know what the interlude chapter is yet because I had that little secret hidden up my sleeve but here's one little hint, I know a lot of you have been banking on it being a part of the story!_

_Until next time!_

_Please leave a review x_

_Many Thanks,_

**_-Emma_**


	4. Interlude 1 - Halloween

**THE HAND OF FRIENDSHIP**

**INTERLUDE 1: 1****ST**** YEAR HALLOWEEN**

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**_Author's note: _**

_This is the special interlude chapter you've been looking forward to and I was going to keep it a secret throughout the whole chapter but I was worried you might get confused so I thought I would tell you what it's about…_

_Basically each interlude will be a snap from the alternate universe years before Draco turned up. I'm going to be starting in first year and then working my way up to fifth year, there will be two interludes for each year so in four chapters time there will be another one from first year, I was thinking about this at the start but was thinking of dropping it, but then loads of people said they wanted to know what happened before the alternate universe sixth year so I decided to leave them in. I like them anyway._

_So that's a little brief on the interludes, now just sit back and I hope you enjoy the first interlude of The Hand of Friendship._

_Also a big thank you to **deepsrani**, **alicelover1995, littlebunny48**, **IGOTEAMEDWARD**, **Kiyuuri**, **Edwardloverx3**, **BornInTheBeautifulSouth**, **JjH**, **fitty909**, **chupeechan**, **cleotheo**, **Ramyfan** and **AliceSherlockHolmes** for all the lovely reviews, they keep me going and I'm very grateful x_

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"I love Halloween," Harry cried happily as he and his best friend Draco swept into the Great Hall for lunch, half the day had already been and gone but the best part of Halloween as Hogwarts was the feast that occurred at dinner time, or so the two first years had been told.

"I hate Halloween, it's stupid," Draco grumbled, throwing himself down on the Slytherin bench and taking a handful of crisps grumpily. Harry rolled his eyes at his grumpy friend, the only reason Draco was annoyed was because Harry had gotten the space he wanted on the Quidditch team, two years earlier than Draco had wanted to get on the team. However, after Harry's display during their first flying lesson, it was obvious that the young wizard had a talent for the position and sport so Draco didn't mind. If it was anyone but his best friend, then he would be angry.

"You're stupid," Blaise Zabini countered from opposite him and Draco shot him a glare, despite already being here for two months, Draco was still only close friends with Harry, he had even forgotten Crabbe and Goyle slightly because all they had done was follow him around anyway, and he didn't class that as a friendship.

"Shut up," Draco shot back just as a group of first year Gryffindors entered the Great Hall and sat down. One of them was Ron Weasley, an insufferable boy who had met Harry on the train to Hogwarts, they had gotten friendly but then Harry had accepted Draco's friendship and it all went downhill. Since the Weasley's and the Malfoy's didn't exactly get along, Weasley told Harry to choose between him and Draco, Harry apologised to Ron and said he couldn't choose between two people he had only just met which angered Weasley and made him stalk away towards a goofy looking boy with a pet toad, overgrown teeth and a stupid surname which was _Longbottom_?

Of course, Weasley wasn't best buds with the goofball, no when he got sorted into Gryffindor he became close friends with an Irish half-blood called Seamus Finnigan and a muggleborn boy called Dean Thomas, the three of them spent their entire lessons causing as much havoc as possible which had landed them a number of detentions in Draco's favourite subject, Potions. The only reason it was his favourite lesson was because the Potions professor was the head of Slytherin house and was extremely biased towards his own house. He docked hundreds of points off other houses everyday but if anyone from Slytherin messed up, they would be docked ten points at the most.

Weasley, Finnigan and Thomas didn't like this one bit so set about to make the Slytherins look as if they were in trouble in front of other professors, it did work until Draco sneakily shot a tickling jinx Weasley's way which had him writhing and giggling whenever McGonagall tried to get him to talk. Since then, Draco and Harry had been enemies with Weasley, Finnigan and Thomas; vowing that they would never be civil to each other ever again.

"Aw Drakie, don't be such a party pooper,"

Draco turned towards the annoying voice that was Pansy Parkinson, she seemed to have some kind of one sided fascination with him which drove him insane 24/7, he edged slightly away from her as she scooched next to him, her eyelashes batting madly and her dark hair hanging limply past her cheeks. Though he was flattered by her constant admiration towards him, she was bothersome and drove him up the wall with her ceaseless clinginess. She had recently made up some kind of ridiculous pet-name for him which was 'Drakie'. It made him sick to his stomach just hearing it spout from her mouth but now Harry had decided it was rather amusing and thought it was even funnier to start using the pet-name.

"Please don't call me Drakie ever again," Draco deadpanned which only made Harry and Blaise snigger whilst Pansy pouted.

"But Draki…"

"Don't even think about it," he snapped just as Theodore Nott came and sat between him and Pansy. Draco nearly hugged him in rejoice but refrained from doing so as to not ruin his bad boy 'I don't even care' reputation.

"Morning all," Theo said, smiling at his fellow house-mates. They all smiled back except for Pansy who looked extremely put-out. Theo continued "So who's looking forward to the feast later?"

Blaise smacked his forehead and groaned "Oh please don't start that again, I do not need Draco to moan anymore about how he hates Halloween,"

Draco glared "Malfoy's don't moan!"

"Well this one does," he joked; Draco opened his mouth to reply but stopped when he felt Harry's hand on his shoulder.

"Ignore him,"

"Always going to get other people to fight your battles Malfoy?" Blaise teased and even though Draco knew his fellow Slytherin was only saying it to wind him up it did just that and he couldn't bear to sit with them any longer.

"Let's go," Draco said to Harry before standing up and throwing his bag over his shoulder. Harry nodded, understanding why his best friend wanted to leave, and did the same. There were only a few minutes until lunch was over and they had charms anyway.

The two Slytherin boys walked out of the hall just as Dumbledore was announcing that the rest of the school should get ready to head to their next lesson, Harry and Draco picked up the pace so that they didn't get caught up in the stampede of students who would soon flood the halls.

"Blaise is being an idiot Draco; he's only pushing your buttons."

Since being friends with Harry, Draco had picked up on a few muggle phrases, '_pushing your buttons' _was one of them.

"I know that Harry, but it still annoys me, he acts like he's so much better than me,"

"Like I said before, just ignore him."

They rounded a corner and spotted the door to the charms classroom in the distance. Unfortunately they weren't the first people there.

Charms; along with Potions, Transfiguration and Flying; were the only lessons that the Slytherin's shared with the Gryffindor's this year. However, the Gryffindor's weren't the quietest of people and news did travel fast around a school this size.

The only other person outside the classroom was a small girl with wild bushy hair and an open book in her lap. She was laughing at something and Draco couldn't help but notice that she was slightly buck-toothed. She looked up from her seat on the floor when she heard the two boys approaching. Harry gave a weak smile since he was polite to everyone, Draco merely sneered as per usual.

The girl in question was Hermione Granger, the bossy know-it-all of Gryffindor who had made her intelligence known on the first day. To be frank, Draco found her irritating that she was so clever but at the same time rather intimidating; he had seen the way she had chastised Weasley about his lack of completed homework and Draco had decided there and then he would not want to be on the wrong side of Hermione Granger, ever.

Despite her bossy personality towards her fellow Gryffindors, the Slytherin's in her year were a very different matter. When she saw Draco and Harry coming her way she slammed her book shut and stuffed it into her bag, struggling to get up with the weight of all the books in her shoulder bag as the drew closer.

She didn't look at them and chose to look at her glossy Mary-Jane's instead. Draco raised an eyebrow every time she looked up before returning her gaze quickly to the floor again.

Slowly, more and more students appeared for class. Unfortunately for Draco, Pansy arrived rather quickly and latched onto his arm straight away, refusing to let go until they had to enter the classroom. Blaise turned up shortly after Pansy and apologised for the way he treated Draco, Draco returned his apology with a half smile and a curt nod. Blaise looked rather pleased with the response he had received since he was obviously expecting worse.

Weasley and his followers sent the group of Slytherin's plenty of dirty looks as they marched over to Hermione. By the amount of respect they sent her way, Harry and Draco could only guess that they weren't befriending Hermione because they enjoyed her company or personality, perhaps more along the lines of the fact she was clever.

"Afternoon class, please come in and take your seats," Professor Flitwick said once the door was opened and the class was lined up outside. Draco trundled inside behind Harry and sat down in his usual seat between Theo and Harry, the other Slytherin's seated their selves around him, Pansy taking the seat directly behind, much to his dismay; she and her friend Daphne Greengrass had already started giggled and whispering and the lesson hadn't even started. They were almost as bad as Lavender Brown and her best friend Pavarti Patil.

The Gryffindor's sat in the benches opposite them, for the first week the teachers had tried to get the Slytherin's and Gryffindor's to sit together but they had failed miserably so had decided to stick with their first plan and let the students sit where the wished to. Of course Weasley was next to Hermione and constantly asking her how to do it; Draco put his wand down and listened to the conversation. So far, all Weasley had managed to do was wave his wand around vigorously.

"Stop, stop, stop, you're going to take someone's eye out," Hermione snapped, pushing his wand down and away from her so that he was aiming at Finnigan's head, "Besides, you're saying it wrong. It's _Leviooo-sa, _not _Levio-saaa_,"

Weasley snorted "Well you do it then if you're so clever,"

Hermione rolled her eyes and simply turned back to her own feather,

"Wingardium Leviosa," she said calmly, moving her wand only slightly. Draco felt transfixed to her feather as it floated gracefully into the air. The ease at which she did it only made Draco more eager to beat her.

Weasley moped around for the rest of the lesson whilst Hermione read her book again. Draco managed to succeed in making his feather fly just after Hermione and Harry minutes later, with a little help from Draco.

At the end of the lesson Professor Flitwick told them that their homework was to keep practising the spell until they could do it without a single thought. There next lesson was a week from then so they had plenty of time.

Walking through the Transfiguration courtyard towards their next class, Care of Magical Creatures, Draco and Harry came across Weasley, Thomas and Finnigan snickering about something.

"…I mean she's a nightmare, _'It's Leviooo-sa, not Levio-saaa' _no wonder she doesn't have any friends,"

The pair of Slytherin's immediately knew who the three Gryffindor's were laughing about. Thomas but in after Weasley had finished.

"The other day I asked her to check my Potions homework and she brought it back with all these corrections on it, telling me I had to write it again. Oh yeah, and don't even get me started on those teeth."

"They're terrible, I wouldn't be her friend even if she was the last person on earth," Finnigan said, his hair still singed from when his feather had blown up during Charms.

"I think she heard them," Harry whispered into his ear, pulling him away from the cruel words that were spouting from the Gryffindors' mouths. He pointed towards a mass of bushy hair that was disappearing back into the school, when she turned a corner Draco could see the tears running down her face and felt slightly bad for the muggleborn Gryffindor, Weasley was right, she didn't have any friends, but that was only because none of her fellow Gryffindors tried to communicate with her, all because she was a know-it-all.

"This is stupid,"

"You're stupid,"

"Oh don't start that again," Daphne groaned as she sat down next to Blaise, opposite Draco. It was the Halloween feast and Draco still wasn't enamoured with the treats and sweets that were scattered all over the four house tables.

The two Slytherin boys hadn't seen Hermione Granger since they had spotted her run off a few hours before. When she hadn't turned up to their last lesson of the day, which was a big surprise since Hermione Granger was the top student in the year and loved school, Harry had started worrying that she had done something stupid but Draco assured him that he didn't need to worry about some silly girly Gryffindor since she was probably just crying in her dorm room over what Weasley and his gang said about her earlier.

However, Draco's words were proved false when the first year gossip queens, Lavender Brown and Pavarti Patil, entered the hall. They were whispering about something that Draco could only make out when they passed him.

"…And she's been crying in the girls' loos ever since, pathetic if you ask me…"

Draco and Harry looked at each other, not even needing to hear a name to know who the two girls were talking about.

"Are they on about Granger?" Pansy sneered from her seat beside Daphne "I agree with them, she is being pathetic,"

"A bit like you then," Draco mumbled, luckily only Harry and Blaise heard it. The pair snickered whilst the two girls looked on, confused.

"What are you laughing at?" Pansy asked, her nasal voice seeming squeakier than usual. Draco physically winced at the sound.

"Nothing that you'd find funny," Draco said when Harry and Blaise failed to even try and answer the question. They always put him on the spot because they thought that he would be able to warm Pansy. Wrong. Why would he try and do that when he didn't even know or care about the meaning of her very existence. If he tried to _warm _her then she would think that he was leading her on, and he didn't want that at all.

Pansy sulked, pouting her fat lips so that her face looked even more pug like than usual.

"You know Draco, you should be nicer to your fellow Slytherins," she whined. Draco just rolled his eyes, taking a doughnut and shoving it into his mouth for some kind of excuse to be silent.

The usual chatter that flooded the Great Hall echoed off the walls as hundreds of students discussed this year's Halloween. First years squealed in delight whilst older students merely commented on the positioning of the floating lanterns. It was a cheerful noise until the large oak doors slammed open. A shrill cry bouncing around the room as it did so.

"TROLL, TROLL IN THE DUNGEONS!"

Professor Quirell, the school's Defence against the Dark Arts teacher, stumbled towards the centre of the hall; his face stricken in horror as he stopped to face Professor Dumbledore, who had now stood up and was facing his colleague.

"TROLL IN THE DUNGEON," Quirell paused "Thought you ought to know," he let out before losing conscious and collapsing into the stone floor.

There was silence for a few seconds until the entire population of the hall broke into screams and shrill cries. Draco could hear Pansy shrieking in his ear as the students pushed their benches aside and shuffled through the thick crowd desperate to get out of the Great Hall.

"SILENCE!"

Everyone turned around to see Professor Dumbledore standing up and gazing at the students in front of him.

"Do not panic. Prefects, please safely return the rest of your house to your common room. Teachers, you will follow me to the dungeons, does everyone understand?"

Harry and Draco followed Maria Dunham, one of Slytherin's Prefects, out of the Great Hall and towards the dungeons. Unfortunately for the Slytherin's the troll seemed to be exactly where their common room was. They were just lagging behind when Harry grabbed Draco's arm, pulling him to a stop. Luckily they were near the back of the pack of Slytherins so no one paid any attention to their sudden halt.

"What?" Draco snapped. Even though he would never admit it, he was quite scared of the troll and actually wanted to return to the common room so that he could be tucked up warm and safe in his four poster bed.

"Hermione,"

"What about her?" Draco urged, confused about his best friend's sudden concern for the bushy haired Gryffindor.

"She doesn't know,"

"About what?"

"The troll," Harry stressed "Lavender and Pavarti said that she was crying in the girls loos. We need to get her!"

Draco grimaced "I don't want to be caught by some ten foot troll just because you want to play the hero."

"Draco," Harry groaned "What if the troll got her? Would you ever forgive yourself if you let her die?"

"It's not our responsibility; she has her own friends,"

"Really? Because from the scene we saw earlier, I wouldn't say that many of those Gryffindors are her _real_ friends."

Draco frowned before sighing in defeat "Okay, but if we die because of you, I will kill you."

Harry smiled slightly, then he checked for any wandering eyes before pulling Draco away from the group and down a corridor that he knew led to the girls' bathroom.

"I think the troll's left the dungeon," Harry muttered as they neared the bathroom. Heavy footsteps could be heard nearby and they were too loud to belong to a human adult.

"You think?" Draco said sarcastically as the next second a huge, gruesome creature lagged past, dragging his wooden club behind him lazily. Draco gulped as the troll groaned.

"He's heading towards the girls bathroom," Harry whispered "Let's go,"

"You mean we're actually going after that thing?"

"If we want to save Hermione,"

"You mean, if _you're _going to save Hermione. I couldn't care less if she died."

"You don't mean that," Harry snapped before creeping forward. Draco's eyebrows burrowed anxiously as he followed his spectacled best friend gingerly. He really did not want to be on the wrong side of that club.

A piercing scream sent a shiver down his spine and for some reason urged his senses to sprint. Harry's seemed to be doing the same as the next minute the pair of Slytherin's were running as fast as they could towards the girls' bathroom, which was where the scream had erupted from. They burst through the door to see a wreckage of broken sinks and toilets. There was another scream but all Draco could see was the gigantic troll that stood in front of him, his groaning mouth slightly open and a dribble of saliva was dripping down his chin. If he could see the troll's face, the troll must be looking at them.

"Watch out," a female voice shrieked and Draco barely had time to register his actions before a large club hurtled his way, he flung his body on the ground as Harry ran around the troll, finding Hermione.

"How are we supposed to defeat it?" Draco called to Harry, he knew trolls were dumb but it would still be a struggle for a first year to take down a fully grown mountain troll.

"Perhaps you could use its club, surely that would knock him out?"

"Oh yeah," Draco said sarcastically, ducking as the troll sent another blow his way "I'll just kindly ask him if I can have his club."

"They're dumb; perhaps he'll give it to you."

Draco snorted "They're dumb not insane, plus I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be able to lift it myself,"

"Then levitate it," Hermione voice called out. Draco frowned dodging yet again out of the way. The troll's beady eyes seemed transfixed on him. Pulling out his wand he held it in front of him, pointing it at the club.

"Wingardium Leviosa,"

The troll tried another blow at him but sent nothing but air his way, as his club was now floating in midair, right above him head. Draco released the spell just as the troll looked up.

The club fell downwards, landing with a surprisingly heavy thunk a top the troll's thick head. Then he fell, Draco had to take a few big strides back so that the humungous body didn't break him. He stuffed his wand into his pocket as Hermione and Harry appeared.

Once the three of them were together, Hermione reached forward to kiss Draco on the cheek, and then she did the same with Harry.  
"Thank you so much, if it wasn't for you two I'd be dead."

For some reason, Draco felt himself blush at the kind words.

"You're Draco and Harry right?" she asked and the two Slytherin's nodded "I'm Hermione."

"Nice to meet you Hermione," Harry said sweetly and the muggleborn Gryffindor smiled.

"You too," she managed to get out before the door swung open and five adults marched in.

**TBC**

* * *

**_Author's note: _**_Well that turned out much harder than I expected… Anyhow, it's done now, finally, and I'm really quite happy with it. I know the ending was weird but I didn't want a cheesy 'And we vowed to be friends forever' ending so I mixed things up a bit… Tell me what you think by reviewing bellow please, thank you for all the kind reviews I've received already, they keep me going. Until next time!_

_Many Thanks-_

**_Emma x_**


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